NICE issues indicators for next QOF
pharmafile | August 5, 2010 | News story | | NHS, qof
Diabetes, dementia and mental health top the list of new indicators to be considered for NICE’s next Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF).
“This menu of potential indicators for the 2011-12 QOF highlights clinical areas that evidence shows may benefit from a QOF indicator,” explains Dr Fergus Macbeth, director of the NICE Centre for Clinical Practice.
They include two new indicators on foot examination to improve diabetes-related foot care, plus a new one to highlight people with a treatable cause of dementia.
There are also six new indicators to improve GP patient care for patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other pyschoses.
At the same time, current indicators on mental health, epilepsy and coronary heart disease are to be considered for scrapping.
The approved list of QOF indicators will be published this winter by NHS Employers on behalf of the four UK health departments and the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association.
“The final menu of indicators will help standardise current practice and deliver the best health outcomes for GP patients,” adds Macbeth.
Introduced in 2004, the QOF is a voluntary annual incentive scheme rewarding GP practices for their performance in putting systematic improvements in place based on these indicators.
The underlying point of the QOF – whose payments can be earned in areas such as length of consultation as well as for more obvious clinical targets – is to improve patient care.
“Throughout the NICE process for QOF, we have consulted widely with professional groups, patients and community and voluntary organisations in the development of these indicators,” says Macbeth.
The QOF advisory committee is made up of health professionals, patients, carers, commissioners, pharmacists and public health specialists.
“NICE has a key role for QOF,” QOF advisory committee chair Colin Hunter says. “And our recommendations will help tackle health inequalities and, importantly, target resources where they are most needed.”
Adam Hill
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